Teasing With Content

Over at the Custom Publishing Council blog, Joe Pulizzi explains how to use a mini e-book to drive readership:

For this distribution model, you work with the client on five to 10
chapters, each about eight to 12 pages per chapter. Make sure that the
chapters all tie together around a central theme (i.e., Estate Planning for Seniors).
You promote the eBook as a series, and usually finish production of all
the chapters before the first one is released (it’s easier that way).

Joe’s gotten more clever about digital magazines of late and goes so far to say, "Basic eBooks can be housed as a traditional pdf file, although for
something a little snappier, you may want to use a digital magazine."

That being said, it goes way behind looking "snappy." Here are a just a few reasons a NXTbook makes more sense than a PDF:

1) Tracking - Everything inside the NXTbook is tracked: pages, clicks, time, etc.

2) Want to add video? No problem in a NXTbook.

3) Want to call special attention to sponsors (what custom publishing is all about)? You can do it in a NXTbook.

4) Viralbility. Did we just invent a word? NXTbooks can be spread easily via, single page uploading to Digg, del.icio.us and Facebook.